For some time now, the innocent idea that social networks are a safe place to share ideas and thoughts had died along with all the credibility of the news we see on them.
And it is no wonder, social networks have been a fundamental part or the main axis in many of the latest scandals, which have even led people behind bars, as well as turning them into social pariahs. Regardless of whether this was meritorious or not, the thing is to see how these media have become one more jungle where we do not know when a group of people will label us as “Politically Incorrect”.
And it is with politics that brings us to this new or rather already known controversy over social networks in the Presidential campaigns. It is not strange that we now know that many of the news we see are being manipulated so that the favorite candidate of said station or television channel becomes the new leader of the country.
And it is such an obvious fact that it is impossible not to notice that there is no such thing as impartial opinion anymore, where no matter what channel you went to, you could see critical and non-invented thinking about this or that candidate. More value was placed on facts and what the country needed most, without being carried away by populist propaganda.
We elected who the country needed most, whoever's vision could lead the US on the right path, no matter their political orientation, in fact, that was the least of it, it was the actions we had to take to remain number one.
Or that was what we truly believed.
It was undeniable that before voting was much more valued and important than now, voting before decided whether you ate steak at the table with your family or ate canned food in a foreign country.
But as the years went by, people began to vote less, letting other groups come in and make the decisions that were ours. It is their fault, because the truth is that it is not.
We stopped voting out of sheer boredom and disinterest. We believed that no matter what we did, the country would continue to be the greatest of all. But it hasn't been like that, and for a few years we had presidents who tarnished the name of the country with their controversial actions. It wasn't until we felt the blow that we reacted to the maximum need as citizens to vote for the right candidate, and at the same time to make our voice heard by putting what we needed first hand.
IS EVERYTHING FALSE?
What is the ultimate goal of voting, if what they told us and promised us was a total lie? And how did we fall for those lies? Did we really know what we were doing, or have we just been manipulated by false propaganda?
It's been going on for years, but it was nothing more than a simple conspiracy, one that I could hear from that guy with aluminum on his head.
“THE MEDIA LIES TO US!” “IT'S ALL A BIG LIE!”
And a whole bunch of other nonsense, which I include myself, we laughed at and ignored and jokingly parodied. But unfortunately the truth hit and has made us see that they really lie to us or, better said, manipulate us.
Fake News, which began with articles of little importance, but which still said something interesting about some product, food that could cause cancer or talk about some celebrity, inventing or exaggerating situations to the point of a 14-year-old's fantasy. Well now these have reached a new level where even the media itself, which should be the reliable sources of information, fall for them, repeating news that was an exaggeration from a small tabloid page, but that was passed from mouth to mouth, reaching the front page of newspapers or being part of a section of the news on television. From ridiculous "Challenges" to the death of an important figure, obviously all lies, but which reached the media as truth. Causing a curious effect, which is that something that was simply a stale joke by some young people bored with life, becomes something that could actually happen. Returning to the “Challenges”, we see how these were just a silly thing created to alarm adults, but the effect on young people who, in the absence of attention, imitate these ridiculous acts, exposing their lives just to get the attention of strangers who watch this out of morbid curiosity, was not seen.
Things like this are too common, and have happened so much that no one imagined what it would become, becoming the weapon with which they are manipulating many young people, as well as many adults with their problem of lack of job opportunities.
Every time the problem grows, we see it as normal, but is it okay to see it that way? If we accept it, wouldn’t we be falling into the trap?
The worst thing of all is to know who is the real culprit of all this, or well, the first to cause it and one of its main actors in why social networks have become another means of sensationalism and a campaign of deception. The media are the true causes of this uncontrolled disaster.
THE DECEPTION OF THE MEDIA
The commitment of the media to keep us up to date with the most important news with the clarity and impartiality that they should show, has become just a word or an oath to the citizens. Year after year we see the bipolar nature of our media, whether Fox News or CNN, none of them fulfill these words that is impartiality and more so in electoral campaigns.
And this has been seen for years, putting fake news on the front page that harms the image of some candidate or even the president of the country. We knew that sensationalism and mockery of people who were not to the liking of the country were funny and, in my opinion, creative, ideal to destabilize the enemy.
But this stops being funny if it is directed at us, self-criticism is not bad if it is well-intentioned, and let's admit it, we are the living example of this. We are not afraid to make fun of ourselves or our American culture, if it were not like this, the Simpsons and almost all the American comedy series would not be as successful as they are.
But getting to the point of spreading a lie for this, without measuring the consequences of it is something wrong.
Let's take an example that is a bit old, but the one I remember the most. And it is the case of the false photo of George Bush with a children's book upside down. Something funny that made us say: It had to be George!
But this was just a false image, which many media outlets used to ridicule the already controversial former president. Let's put aside whether our opinion of George W. Bush is good or bad (usually bad), and focus on how we let something like this go. That it was so easy to ridicule the representative of our country in this way, that it happened so often and if we even noticed it. The truth is that, at that time, it was not of great importance, and we let it go very easily so that we could vent about all our problems.
But as we let these things go, it only intensified, and every year it was getting worse, it didn't matter which party you were in, you would be attacked by some media for your position and not for your ideas about the country.
TRICKS AND LIES
The media has been increasingly insistent in manipulating through social networks. From the use of Fake news, bots, cyborgs and spam, they have managed to manipulate people into believing that said information is true or that its tendency was due to its importance, which was not the case at all. It has been demonstrated how dangerous these acts are, since many of them have managed to manipulate the algorithm of these social networks, even getting many accounts banned or managing to harm people who had done nothing, only support the candidate who was not their preference.
The way in which these entities have managed to manipulate us is becoming more blatant every day, but I want to make this clear, and that is that this is not about accusing just one media outlet, since this is what they all do, no matter what political party you belong to, or what your ideology is.
One of the most blatant cases of manipulation I remember was towards the well-known Bernie Sanders, who after going through health problems, went to declare to the press about his candidacy for the presidency of the country. But as we see in the image from the original video, the candidate appeared with a redder skin tone and looked more sickly.
By making this candidate look like that, it was implied that he was a fragile person who could not even reach the Oval Office. But that was the intention, to make him look weak, and I am not the only one saying this, but everyone who saw this blatant attempt at mass manipulation.
It doesn't matter what party you are from or whether or not you support Bernie Sanders, the fact is that they did this to manipulate our opinion. And just like this, there are many examples, some much more subtle, but just as effective that have influenced previous campaigns.
Don't you believe me? Well, let's look at the case that really changed the course of the country, one in which the media influenced, but failed and left as a candidate one of the most controversial people of today, Donald Trump and his incredible candidacy in 2016.
A BAD MANIPULATION
Up to this point, there was a certain respect between both political parties, they shook hands not only as rivals, but out of respect for each other. But that changed since Trump's candidacy, it was evident that the Republican was not a better option, or that was how it was seen in 2016.
Donald Trump's candidacy was like the attempt of a Hollywood star to run for the candidacy so as not to be forgotten by the public. At first, no one took Trump seriously, nor his rivals, but it was for that very reason that he won.
The media treated the candidate with ridicule, and did not stop in their attempt to discredit him. From television segments about his proposals to opinions ridiculing the candidate, and the most impressive of all, the surveys through social networks, where they flooded with sensationalist and ridiculous news.
According to the surveys on networks, it was impossible for said candidate to win the elections, but it was his own hand that made him do so, since, by publishing his proposals, as well as his image, he became known, and the surveys were the reason why they trusted themselves, allowing the least expected candidate to be the winner.
At that time I could not believe this event, I and many others did not think he would really win. Let's just look at how this affected even television programs or even media even further away from our country, with Donald Trump being the image of many of them.
ARE SOCIAL NETWORKS COMPLICIT IN THIS?
Well, the answer does not come from me, or from any critic, conspiracy theorist, youtuber or influencer with a large number of followers. This was exposed by the owner of Twitter himself, Elon Musk, who confirmed the suspicion of many. And this is that the information of all users is sold to other media in order to more easily influence our consumer preferences.
Has it not happened to you that after watching a video or looking at the new memes of the week, almost suddenly something related to the electoral campaign or something about one of the candidates appears. No matter how much one tries to avoid this news, you always end up seeing some strange guy in the comments of a video totally unrelated to the topic giving his opinion about a certain candidate.
WILL WE HAVE TO LEAVE SOCIAL NETWORKS?
There is no need to leave everything behind to be able to face this new era where we only have to investigate for ourselves the truth of the facts and not be part of an electoral machine that can lead us to a bad election or that can make a controversial candidate take such an important and valuable position.
It is time to raise awareness and give more importance to these electoral campaigns. In a world as confusing as the one we have now, where we no longer have the certainty of what could happen tomorrow, whether the economy improves or worsens, whether wars abroad could affect the rest of the world and so on.
Let us look for and choose a candidate who is not just the product of good political propaganda but who really makes a difference.
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